Princess Ivona was Collected Works’ inaugural production, directed by Michael Hunter at the Performance Art Institute in San Francisco. Witold Gombrowicz’s 1938 play follows the bizarre whims of a young prince who chooses an awkward, silent, stubborn young woman as his bride, in order to challenge the life he’s inheriting.

For this project we converted a SOMA warehouse into an immersive environment: in the opening scenes of the play spectators mingled and waited for the emergence of the Royal Court on their nightly promenade. The audience was then led into the the cavernous court for the spectacle that followed.